In remarks at the Tulsa rally this evening, President Trump criticized movements across the country seeking to remove or replace monuments honoring Confederate generals, telling supporters:
"The disturbed crowd on the left is trying to vandalize our history, to desecrate our monuments, our beautiful monuments, to demolish our statutes and to punish, annul and persecute anyone who does not respect their requirements for absolute and total control. We do not comply. "
Trump added, "This cruel campaign of censorship and exclusion violates everything that is dear to us as Americans. They want to demolish our heritage so that they can impose a new oppressive regime in its place. "
An official on Wednesday rejected reports that the Trump administration was planning to rename the named bases for Confederate Generals, telling Jason Hoffman of CNN: "This is incorrect. The President reiterated today that we will not erase our history and do not plan to change the names of the bases. "
A certain context: The death of George Floyd leads to the removal - by protesters in some cases and city leaders in others - of controversial statues that have bothered residents for decades or more.
Controversial monuments, particularly Confederate monuments, have been the subject of national debate, particularly since Dylann Roof killed nine African Americans in a church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015 in an effort to "start a racial war".
And it erupted again after white nationalists marched in 2017 to protest the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville, Virginia, where a counter-protester was killed in violent clashes between protesters.
Some say they mark history and honor heritage. Others contend that they are racist symbols of the dark American legacy of slavery. While some cities have already made efforts to remove them, others have passed laws to protect them.
